Lions, Tigers and Google Voice, Oh My!

When I started using Google Voice in the summer of 2009, I was a little shocked at the features of this application. 

Google Voice basically gives you the ability to do the following: have one local phone number that you can pick (generally) that you can set up to have all of your phones to ring when someone calls your Google Voice number, not only saves voicemails online but also transcribes your voicemail into text and even lets you listen in on the voicemail as it is being left. Finally, you can block certain callers AND record messages for individuals like your husband, work, or the annoying neighbor. It also can act as a phone that can call internationally where you pay a low price to call. 


After signing up for my phone number, I didn't really play with it at all. But, today, after using it with my husband, it is absolutely awesome! For families who are cancelling home phone numbers, this is totally the way to go. You can set it up to have all of your cell phone numbers to ring, some of your numbers to ring, one number to ring, etc when someone calls your Google Voice number. It is a great way to have a central phone number and a way for someone to get ahold of you no matter what, especially if you are waiting for an important phone call. 

One function I found frustrating is that out of the four times that my husband called me as we trying it out, he was only able to reach me 3 of the 4 times. It did, however, record every voicemail he left and with a 90% accuracy it transcribed it for me. It even sent me a text message AND email telling me I had a voicemail, and showed up as a voicemail on my cell phone, as well. Also, when I deleted the voicemail on Google Voice, it deleted on my phone, and vice versa. That is convenient for me so I'm not listening twice to these voicemails. 


This might be a good resource in my classroom if I wanted to create a Google Voice account for them to leave me voicemails for their oral exams. It even lets me send them all to voicemail so I don't have to listen to the ring! Unfortunately, they don't transcribe in Spanish so I won't be able to look at the transcription. I think this would be a great assessment tool for World Language teachers!


Also, we could talk to students in other countries using Google Voice. In fact, a 5 minute conversation would cost us $.10. It'd be a great, inexpensive way to cheaply integrate culture into my classroom.


I could use this for coaching. Since you can assign your Google Contacts (yes, from Gmail, etc) to different groups, Google Voice allows you to assign different groups a different voicemail. Even different people to different voicemails. If I wanted, I could assign my JV volleyball girls a voicemail as to what is going on for the week in case they forget, or what time the tournament is and expectations, etc. 


The list goes on and on. 


I believe that in order to use this application you must be invited by another user or you must sign up and be invited by Google. From what I understand, it is still in the BETA stages of development. 

My Wiki-Wiki Dabbles

There was not a Wikipedia page for our district, Flat Rock Community Schools, so I created one and added our four schools along with addresses and phone numbers. I bolded the school names and added page breaks so it looked nicer as well as added links to each of the schools' homepages.

I've also dabbled with WikiSpaces over the last few years and use one religiously with my language teaching. It is for teachers and students to post ideas and lessons along with materials and we share our information with the rest of the world. I find a lot of great ideas on there and use it 5 - 8 times a month.

I have used Wikispaces within my classroom in the 9-12 setting and have found it to be slow when all of the students are on there at the same time. However, I contacted Wikispaces and within 5 minutes they got back to me telling me something or another and they had fixed the problem. It was nice that there is someone available for your educator needs in real-time. I also have created another page for my current endeavors as a 3-5 Spanish teacher and am hoping to teach the kids how to use the wiki to create separate pages in regards to 'El Tiempo', or weather, that we are learning. The plan is that they will create a weather report online. We'll see how it goes!

Computer-Based Instructional Objects

There are a lot of different considerations that have to be made when computer-based instructional objects are used in and out of the classroom.


For example if the lesson is on the internet, like a WebQuest, there is the consideration that the technology needed to complete the lesson is not available. It also needs to have clear-cut expectations and directions for the students to be able to use independently. Also, the information needs to be presented in a way that is at the cognitive level of the students. Also, students must be able to easily navigate the lesson, or in other words, make it look appealing and "easy on the eye".


I researched a few different WebQuests and unfortunately I did not find many quality Quests. 


I did find La Aventura, a WebQuest revolving around traveling to another country and learning to budget. It allowed students to work in pairs, which I think is great given the opportunity to discuss different cultural activities while in the country as they navigated their way around. It also has a very clear-cut objective as well as evaluation with a rubric. On top of that, it gives the students an opportunity to learn about activities that are available in other countries - and to personalize this to what interests them. If one student enjoys sports and another student enjoys art, they both can find different activities that are relevant.


Another WebQuest I found was Viva Espana!  This was really great and began with this introduction: "While walking along the street on Saturday, you and your three friends look down and see a black wallet lying in the gutter. After opening the wallet, you see that it belongs to the famous Spaniard Antonio Banderas! A phone call to Antonio reveals that he is ecstatic that you found his wallet and is offering you and your friends a huge reward. The reward is based on one condition!"


Who wouldn't want complete this WebQuest - it has Antonio Banderas! This catches my attention right away and also has a great collaboration opportunity with four different roles - each learning about a different aspect of Spain. It also gives the students A LOT of options to pick from, from how long they are staying in the country to what cities they visit. They then complete both individual and group assignments, which I also feel is a good measure of participation and personal learning. It has a clear evaluation for both the personal and group assignments, as well as for the role of each student.